Missing North Carolina teens found with men in Florida 500 miles away, cops say

A 14-year-old and 15-year-old girl who left home in North Carolina with “guys they met” were found with two men in a beach town in Florida, authorities said.

The two men, identified as 18-year-old Ericson Leonel Ullo-Flores and 22-year-old Edwin Alberto Cardenas, are now charged with two counts of second-degree kidnapping, according to arrest warrants.

The morning of May 3, the parents of the two girls reported their daughters missing to police, saying they were last seen at around 1 a.m., the Clayton Police Department said.

They reportedly left a note saying they were leaving with some guys, and they didn’t bring phones, according to police.

“It did appear that both girls left on their own and were not abducted,” Clayton police said.

The next evening, Florida law enforcement said they went to serve arrest warrants for the two men at their home in Daytona Beach, about a 500-mile drive from Clayton.

The teen girls were found safe, and the two men will be brought to North Carolina to face prosecution, police said.

Clayton is about a 15-mile drive southeast from downtown Raleigh.

This story was originally published May 8, 2025 at 11:56 AM with the headline "Missing North Carolina teens found with men in Florida 500 miles away, cops say."